Wednesday 10 October 2012 07.15 EDT
First published on Wednesday 10 October 2012 07.15 EDT

As the US supreme court once again wrestles with affirmative action this week, Ward Connerly is doubtlessly a happy man. I am sure the former UC Regent, who launched his nationwide assault on affirmative action from California, will join others in their effort to permanently end the use of race in college admissions at the University of Texas and beyond. It's a misguided effort, because the university's policy is constitutional. What's more, it's working.

The facts in the Texas case are these: Abigail Fisher filed suit in 2008 claiming that she was denied undergraduate admission to the University of Texas because she was white. She lost in the lower courts but the justices agreed to hear her case this term.

Fisher contends that the University of Texas treated her unfairly. She believes that race was the main reason she was rejected, and that race has no place in university admissions.

The facts tell a different story. The university makes only limited use of race in its admission decisions. Most undergraduates are admitted through a state law that guarantees the top 10% of state high school graduates entrance to a state university. Fisher did not qualify. Texas admits its remaining students through a review process that considers race among a number of other factors like socioeconomic background and leadership potential. Race is not a dominant factor in admissions. Instead, Texas uses a holistic process in which applicants of any race can benefit. One's race is not the sum of their file; it's only a part of it.

This use of race complies with the court's rulings. The landmark Grutter decision gives universities the freedom to consider race as one factor for admission in order to promote diversity and recruit under-represented minorities. With a rapidly growing minority population and a globalizing economy, the university has a legitimate interest to fulfil: recruiting a highly-qualified and representative student body and to prepare all of their students for a global workforce.

Texas' approach to admissions stands in stark contrast to other state universities across the nation. Take my home state, California. After the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996, which ended affirmative action, the number of African Americans and Latinos admitted declined significantly. Nowhere was the effect more strongly felt than at Berkeley. In 1995, UC Berkeley's entering class was 7.3% black, but by 1998, that number dropped by more than half, to 3.2%. By 2011, that percentage had only slightly risen to 3.9%. The state's prohibition on considering race in admissions left an indelible mark, as the UC's Fisher amicus brief confirms. In an increasingly polyglot nation, what's left of our commitment to diversity?

Opponents argue that considering race in admissions is no longer necessary. Yet, even though Barack Obama now lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the evidence regularly shows large and pervasive racial disparities in important aspects of contemporary American life. These include access to quality schools, employment, obesity rates, incarceration levels, and poverty. A UCLA report released last month found that school segregation is especially pronounced and that it has increased in recent years; what's more, black and Latino kids are much more likely to attend poorer schools.

Such inequities have only grown since the onset of the great recession. Without policies that consider race, similar to Texas' approach, public university students will be less likely to enjoy the benefits of a truly diverse student body.

Opponents believe that race-based admissions stigmatize minority students. Wrong: the research shows that feelings of inferiority were lower among minorities in schools with race-conscious admissions than those that prohibited affirmative action. Moreover, minorities attending elite colleges graduate at much higher rates than those who went to less selective institutions.

Ultimately, the high court will have the final say on Texas' admissions policy. Regardless of the outcome, then, we need to think constructively about how to strengthen our public universities and prepare our next generation. The demographics of the nation are changing. Minorities will comprise over half the population in 30 years.

Instead of employing diversity tactics that don't work, let's reconsider race in admissions as Texas has done. It not only secures diversity and furthers our global competitiveness, but also gives all Americans a fairer shot at success. There is nothing more important than that.